Hello All,

I observed that there is some confusion amongst the students regarding the exact webpage/site to look for the result of "call for written test and/or interview" at Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT Kanpur.

This thread is aimed at helping you people get to the exact location and look for your result.

For List of students called for M.Tech screening:
http://www.iitk.ac.in/bsbe/admission/mtech.htm

For List of students called for PhD screening:
http://www.iitk.ac.in/bsbe/admission/phd.htm


For further details, refer: http://www.iitk.ac.in/bsbe/admission/

Hope it helps.

Best wishes
Sunil

As far as I know, B.Tech in biotechnology is very new and will be vast in India in our near future.
I just want to knw that which has better scope in future in all prospects i.e. job , money e.t.c.btech biotechnology with mtech or btech biotechnology with MBA as i am frm pcb background so i really want ur help to further pusue my studies in ryt direction

i have my intrest in both of em equally
I knw that mba in biotechnology is relly new to me and in india as well so is there really a scope for this in india
plzz suggest sumthin asap , i am really confused and plz suggest sum colleges for the same.
And i eagerly wanted to knw one ans frm u that integrated programs are good bcz many universities are giving integrated program in btech+mba and btech+mtech
so wt to do sir
soon ans will b appreciated
thanku

Hiii Alll,


i have 3 questions and i need short and professional answer for each one ?

kindly check the attached file


Thanks in advance  

Hello!

As an Indian citizen I am keen to discuss the impact of Prime Minister Modi's new Make in India campaign and its impact on te Indian biotech industry.
One of the sectors that the investment campaign focuses on is biotech, and shares the following statistics on India's biotech industry:

3rd biggest biotech industry in the Asia-Pacific region.
2nd highest number of USFDA–approved plants.
USD 3.7 Billion to be spent on biotechnology from 2012-17.
No. 1 producer of Hepatitis B vaccine recombinant.

The campaign also describes a number of reasons to invest in the industry which i find very interesting and promising.
Particularly:
India is amongst the top 12 biotech destinations in the world and ranks third in the Asia-Pacific region.
India has the second-highest number of USFDA–approved plants, after the USA.
India adopted the product patent regime in 2005.
Increasing government expenditure will augment the growth of the sector — the government aims to spend USD 3.7 Billion on biotechnology between 2012-17.
India is the largest producer of recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine.
India has the potential to become a major producer of transgenic rice and several genetically modified (GM) or engineered vegetables.

Do share your thoughts and critiques on the this initiative. I personally am very optimistic and hope these effots help the biotech industry in India reach new heights.

There are two different types of bioremediation, in situ and ex situ.

In Situ Bioremediation

    In situ bioremediation involves the treatment of the conamination on site.  In the case of soil contamination, in situ bioremediation involves the addition of mineral nutrients.  These nutrients increase the degradation ability of the microorganisms that are already present in the soil.

    Sometimes new microorganisms are added to the contaminated area.  Microorganisms can sometimes be genetically engineered to degrade specific contaminants.  An example of a microorganism that has been genetically engineered is Pseudomonas fluorescens HK44.  These genetically engineered microorganisms can be designed for the conditions at the site.

    Which approach is taken depends upon the relationship between the type of contamination and the type(s) of microorganisms already present at the contamination site.  For example, if the microorganisms already present are appropriate to break down the type of contamination, cleanup crews may only need to "feed" these microorganisms by the addition of fertilizers, nutrients, oxygen, phosphorus, etc.

    There are two frequently used methods of supplying oxygen to the microorganisms.

    Bioventing - This consists of blowing air from the atmosphere into the contaminated soil.  First, injection wells must be dug into the contaminated soil. How many wells, how close together they go, how deep they are dug all depends on the factors affecting the rate of degradation (type of contamination, type of soil, nutrient levels, concentration of conatminants, etc).   Once all of the injection wells are dug, an air blower is used to control the supply of air that is given to the microorganisms.  These injection wells can also be used to add nitrogen and phosphorus, maximizing the rate of degradation.

    Hydrogen Peroxide Injection - In cases in which the contamination has already reached the groundwater, bioventing will not be very successful.  Instead, hydrogen peroxide is used.  It functions much the same as bioventing, using the hydrogen peroxide instead of air blowers to deliver oxygen to the microorganisms.  If the soil is shallow (the groundwater is fairly close to the surface) the hydrogen peroxide can be administered through sprinkler systems. If the groundwater is fairly deep beneath the surface,  injection wells are used.

Ex Situ Bioremediation
   Ex situ bioremediation involves the physical extraction of the contaminated media to another location for treatment.  If the contaminants are just in the soil, the contaminated soil is excavated and transported for treatment.  If the contamination has reached the groundwater, it must be pumped and any contaminated soil must also be removed.
    One major thing that this removal of the contaminants does right away is stop the spread of the contamination.  Provided that the cleanup crews to a good job in the excavation process, there should ideally be no remaining contaminants, but it is also usually alright to have a minimal amount of contaminants rermaining.  If minimal contaminants do remain in the soil, they can likely be broken down by the naturally occuring microorganisms already present.

    There are two main types of ex situ bioremediation.  They are refered to as phases:

Solid Phase  -  Solid phase treatment consists of placing the excavated materials into an above ground enclosure.  Inside this enclosure, the contaminated soil is spread onto a treatment bed.  This treatment bed usually has some kind of built-in aeration system.  Using this system, cleanup crews are able to control the nutrients, moisture, heat, oxygen and pH.  This allows them to maximize the efficiency of the bioremediation.  The soil can also be tilled like farmland, helping to provide oxygen and enable additional aerobic biodegradiation of the contamination.   Solid phase treatment is especially effective if the contaminants are fuel hydrocarbons.  However, it does require a lot of space and sometimes it cannot be used for that very reason.

There are three solid phase bioremediation techniques. They are: landfarming, biopiling, and composting.
Slurry Phase - the contaminated soil is excavated and removed from the site as completely as possible.  The contaminants are then put into a large tank which is known as a bioreactor.  Cleanup crews use this bioreactor to mix the contaminants and the microorganisms.  This mixing process keeps the microorganisms in constant contact with the contaminants.  Water, oxygen, and nutrients are added.  Since the cleanup crews have complete control of the conditions in the bioreactor, they can adjust things until they acheive the optimal conditions for the degradation of the contaminants.  Since the degradation can be kept at or very close to optimal conditions, it does not take very long to break down the contaminants.
    In fact, slurry phase bioremediation is much faster than many other bioremediation techniques.  It is very useful in cases in which the contaminants need to be broken down very quickly.  Another advantage to slurry phase bioremediation is the fact that it can be a permanant solution to the problem.
    However, it is not always a permanant solution.  It's success is highly dependant upon the chemical properties of the soil and contaminations.  Slurry phase bioremediation definately has some diadvantages.  For example, the rate of treatment is limited by the size of the bioreactor.  That is, if a small bioreactor is being used, the rate of degradation will be very slow.  Also, additional treatment of the wastewater is required.  After the additional treatment, the waste water must then somehow be disposed of.  These things add quite a bit of cost.  They are part of the reason that slurry phase bioremediation has a high operating cost as well as a fairly high capital cost.

I am a Post graduate (M.Sc) in Biotechnology (Agriculture)  from M.G University Kerala and I was working as a Research Asst. in Agriculture University in Kerala.

After the Marriage I have shifted to UAE and had a break in my career. Actually tried in the beginning but nothing worked out, and now its almost 7 years, I did not work. Now my kids started schooling I want to restart my career.

I want to do some specialization course as a to bridge the gap, which can give me more opportunities in the UAE market.

Can you please suggest me best courses I can do (distant learning) and the best way to move forward.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Thank you very much in advance.

best regards
Kripa

Hello Sunil Bhaiya,
Along with IIT Madras can u plzz. provide the papers for IIT Kanpur as well.

Hi everyone!
I am new in this forum. I have just read some of your discussions and posts and I am really getting interested.
However, I am a graduate student in Biotechnology (BSc) and I will probably graduate within the next year. My future plan is to get a MSc degree in the UK, but I am a little bit hesitant about what Biotechnology's field I will specialize in.      
Could anyone of you give me any suggestions or tell me your personal experiences?
Thank you in advance

Hello,
I am interested in pursuing cell biology.
I just want to know whether it is a part of biotechnology or biological sciences and what is the difference between the two.
And what should I do to pursue cell biology - Mtech or MS?

Which is better MSc in agricultural biotechnology or biotechnology? What is the career scope after doing msc agricultural biotechnology and which ph.d courses we are eligible after msc agricultural biotechnology

I have been accepted by NYU and Pennsylvania State university, however, I do not know which one is better in terms of rankings because different sites report it differently and there is no transparency in these rankings. Sometimes biotech is not even a specialization that is ranked. Does anyone know which is better?

The new govt's Make In India initiative will focus on the biotech industry as well, it seems.
I noticed some interesting and promising statistics on the website, with regard to investing in India's robust biotech industry:

• India is amongst the top 12 biotech destinations in the world and ranks third in the Asia-Pacific region.
  
• India has the second-highest number of USFDA–approved plants, after the USA.
  
• India adopted the product patent regime in 2005.
  
• Increasing government expenditure will augment the growth of the sector — the government aims to spend USD 3.7 Billion on biotechnology between 2012-17.
  
• India is the largest producer of recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine.
  
• 3rd biggest biotech industry in the Asia-Pacific region.
  
• 2nd highest number of USFDA–approved plants.
  
• USD 3.7 Billion to be spent on biotechnology from 2012-17.
  
• No. 1 producer of Hepatitis B vaccine recombinant.
  
• USD 4.3 Billion bio-economy by the end of 2013.
  
• USD 100 Billion industry by 2025.
  

The data is even more encouraging as the govt offers Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100% is permitted through the automatic route for greenfield and through the government route for brownfield, for pharmaceuticals.

Hope to see this initiative result in a more robust industry, creating opportunities for many. India needs a strong pool of engineers, scientists and biotech professionals to separ head the growth of this industry. More information on this can be found on the Make in India website. 

Any thoughts, ideas, criticisms are welcome.

I m a B.Sc. 2nd yr student. I m interested in doing training. can someone plzz help me out....to knw hw to go abt it.....

This thread attempts to help students pursuing Masters in Biotechnology or related field to make some informed career decisions. We would like to thank our user "aruporacle" for asking the relevant questions. Following is a summary of the conversation between "aruporacle" and "SunilNagpal":

Post from aruporacle:
-----------------------------------------
Dear Sunil,


Need your advice and some guidance please.

My daughter is currently studying M.Tech in Biotechnology from NIT Rourkela and will complete in June 2016.

If we wish to admit her in NSU, Singapore for her PHD in Biotechnology. 

1. Which Intake Period (August 2016 or January 2017 or August 2017) is appropriate and recommended for her PHD, assuming her M.Tech result will not be declared before June 2016? 

2. Depending on the intake period, can she use her existing GATE-Biotechnology February 2014 score (All India Rank of 292, percentile = 97.27%) or will she have to again appear for GATE in February 2016?

Regards,
Arup
-------------------------------------------------------------

Response from Sunil:
===========================
 Your daughter should first apply for August 2016 intake (applications will start by May 15, 2015 and shall continue till November 2015). This would let her utilize her GATE 2014 score card which would expire in March 2016. The interviews for August 2016 intake would be organized in January-February 2016 (her GATE 2014 score card would be valid till then). To ensure a back-up, she should appear for GATE 2016 as well. Applications for January 2017 intake would last till May 2016 (ample time to apply for the January 2017 intake using GATE 2016 results).

There is need not be any worry about the declaration of the results. They will seek marksheets till penultimate semester only. Once the results are declared, she should ensure that she takes all her documents along.

Although she can apply for January 2016 intake as well, but completing M.Tech would definitely add to her resume/strength. 

Hope it helps
If there's anything else that I can help with, do let me know.

Best wishes
Sunil
===================================


Current post from aruporacle:
--------------------------------------------
Dear Sunil,



Thank you very much for your responses and clarifications to my queries.

Yes, I need your help to guide my daughter for getting a job opportunity. She is in fact looking for a job in biotech industry to gain some industry experience instead of doing her PhD now. 
After passing out her BTech from PESIT, Bangalore in 2012, she was placed in WIPRO Technologies for SAP software related assignments which she did not enjoy much and hence she quit after working for 7-8 months to pursue her masters. But in her M.Tech program also, she is not getting the right kind of exposure. So she needs a job to get the practical exposure and skills so that she can apply her potential and contribute.

So, can you please suggest how to go about it?
1. what are the job opportunities she should avail after completing her M.Tech in bio technology from NIT Rourkela in June 2016?
2. which companies are relevant for her with M.Tech degree?
3. How to apply or which are the exams?
4. Is NET also ok and applicable?

Kindly advise and help.
best regards,

Hello,

I am Chythra, currently doing my Master's in biotechnology from New York University, NY. This is my second semester right now, and I am looking for summer internship opportunities in USA. I needed to know apart from Linkedin, what are the other ways to get in contact with officials from the biotechnology industry so that I can get a breakthrough into the industry, I need to connect with experienced people so that I can learn more about the current industrial trends and norms. Kindly if anyone has information about it would be very helpful.

Thanks
Chythra Rani Chandregowda
Teaching Assistant
New York University
email: crc469@nyu.edu

Hello sir, I would like to know when to start for the preparations for IIT JAM as I am in my first year B.Sc and also I would like to know whether bioinformatics is a right option for M.Sc without any software basics in UG level?

Hello, i want to know about Nanotechnology, is it good to go for m.tech in Nanotechnology after b.tech in biotech ?
i mean how much the field related to bio? what is the future prospects? like research works?

Regards,
Bharat Manna.

Almost everyone associated with the healthcare domain is well aware of the concept of '13' & '7'. 13 is the average time needed for a new pharmaceutical drug, to be ready to enter into the market, and considering the patent protection period to be of 20 years, the pharma firm has only an average of 7 years to market the drug exclusively. To speed up the clinical trial process, the company taps each and every step of the drug discovery and development. In recent times, the focus has been more on the clinical trial phase, in order to speed up the process. The focus has been more because this is the phase when the investigational drug candidate is tested on humans, and secondly, this phase consumes 50-70% of the cost and time of entire clinical trial budget.

In the clinical trials, the focus has been more on the adverse event management. The occurrence of adverse events may operate to extend the length of the trial and result in increased costs, and may be responsible, in part, for the high rate of clinical attrition, with a 40-45%failure rate experienced in Phase-III trials – where most of the failures are attributed to lack of sufficient efficacy and safety data. Building a genomic profile of the patient might help in this case.

The clinical trial process is further complicated by the need for patient monitoring, which is generally performed by doctor visiting the study or testing site.  However, such methods are not well suited for serious adverse events, requiring immediate medical attention.

Accordingly, a need exists for a remote monitoring tool that provides for early and targeted stratification of patients, which may result in improved drug success rates, increased drug response predictability, and improved identification of causal links between drug treatments and adverse events.

“Synergia” utilizes “genomics” along with “remote patient monitoring” data, stored in the cloud, use analytics to form a uniform consolidated output, thus assisting in smarter adverse event prediction.
The process may begin by building a patent gene expression database, which may involve testing the patient for inclusion and exclusion criteria.  If the patient meets the inclusion criteria, they are enrolled in the study.  The percentage of expression for a particular set of genes is calculated by means of microarray analysis (also known as SNPchip analysis).  This genetic profile database may be stored in a standardized format in the cloud. In some embodiments, the system may utilize a subscription to the cloud storage service, array plates (e.g., Affymetrix Axiom Genotyping) and a sputum sample and analysis kit, for extraction of DNA and for analysis through microarray experimentation.

The database having patient records with their gene expression level is taken into consideration for each therapy for a defined therapeutic area.  This may compare a baseline level for the gene expression defined by the user or investigator in an application to a patients’ gene expression levels and may reflect this in terms of a R-A-G (Red, Amber, Green) status, explained by means of a bar graph in a UCO page (Uniform Consolidated Output) provided through the application. The investigator may be able to identify and tag different patient clusters, depending on which category the patient belongs to (i.e., red, amber, green), which may be defined in part by the baseline value and the patients gene expression levels. This is information may be captured in a genetic predisposition database or table. By way of example, for a given therapeutic area, breast cancer, and a specific therapy, the drug Bevacizumab, some patients may respond favorably, some patients may not respond at all and yet other patients may display an adverse reaction, for example, a sudden increase in the patient’s blood pressure when the drug is administered.  These dispositions are associated with the patients’ genetic expression profile, and an investigator may use this information to identify patients who might require extra care as they may be predisposed to extreme hypertension, or in other cases may exclude the patient (who otherwise met the inclusion criterion) from the clinical study.  While the above example is context specific, the process may generally make it possible to “tag” a patient according to his or her genetic makeup.

Currently, the patients are subjected to randomization immediately after they pass for inclusion/exclusion criteria test, but without prior genetic testing done the investigator is not aware of the chance that the patient may be a “wrong patient”, which may unnecessarily increase the risk of an adverse event in the future when the drug is administered by the patient.  By “tagging” the patient, the genetic predisposition data may help to determine the “right patient for the drug” and may help to narrow down results and pin-point patients who might not be able to respond to a drug or who may give an undesirable response towards a therapy.

Once the investigator selects the patients who should be given the therapy of the drug under test, the patients may be subjected to continuous remote patient monitoring by means of vital sign monitoring through wearable devices. , information regarding the vital signs may be sent to a data platform every 20 minutes before and after a dose is given.  These readings may be captured and stored in a database maintained at the back end of the application or server in a pre-defined format.  The system may then calculate the percentage change in the average vital sign reading, at the backend,for display on the front-end application.  The percentage change may be based on a pre-dose baseline, steady state dose baseline, patient population to sub-population average, or other normative baseline for comparison.  The investigator may have the ability to set the baseline value for each parameter. Depending on the baseline value, a graph will be displayed through the UCO illustrating the percentage change in the average vital sign recording exhibited in terms of a R-A-G status.  If the percentage change of a parameter goes beyond a baseline value, an “ALERT” is displayed on the “dashboard” page of the application. By clicking the “ALERT” icon on the dashboard, the investigator may be able to select or filter those alerts based on patient commonality, for example, based on the rise of any one of the vital signs.  For example, if the percentage change in average blood pressure value is more than 35% (the baseline value set by the investigator), then the information dashboard will be populated with an “ALERT”.Clicking on the “ALERT” button may take the investigator to the UCO (Uniform Consolidated Output) page.

In current arrangements, the doctor and patient have to commonly visit the trial site to monitor the patients, record their vital signs and feed the electronic data into the system, but the risk of human error remains and the doctors predictive abilities are limited in that it fails to capture adverse events taking place between or outside of visits to a trial site.  By continuously remotely monitoring a patient, the patient is allowed to stay at home rather than remaining in a controlled clinical setting (which could reduce the cost of his maintenance), and an unexpected adverse event may be more readily detected in any of the parameter readings, because of the continuous, almost real time nature of remote patient monitoring. The system may consolidate the gene expression profile data with the real time vital sign recording data, which may help the investigator reach causal or other inferential medical conclusions, at an individual level and more broadly across trial sites.

As noted above, the investigator may be provided with a UCO that may allow him to compare the vital sign readings of a patient with the patient percentage gene expression level data, and may provide insight (e.g., through statistical analysis) into deeper relationships that may be present.  For instance, an investigator may consider the R-A-G indicator of gene expression and vital sign readings, and may match parameters and genes with similar status indicators (e.g., matching a red bar of a graph for gene expression with a red bar for a graph of percentage change in vital sign reading.  The investigator may also use the tool to identify the patients who are at a higher risk of adverse event in a quicker and more efficient manner.

As noted, the investigator may be provided with deeper insights behind the gene expression values and vital sign readings, and may look for statistically significant values that may justify making a particular decision.  In such situations, it may be useful to look at information of a broader population, and by clicking on the “gene ID” in a graph in the UCO, the investigator may be able to navigate to a site-wise depiction of the genetic predisposition data capturing the gene expression levels across sites. The investigator could use this information to form a higher level connection between a particular drug or treatment and genetic predisposition data, and may further allocate resources to patients who may need extra care or identify patients who should not be given the drug at all.

The system may serve to reduce the adverse event occurrence rate by increasing treatment predictability, which may save money in terms of compensation costs paid to patients’ family, and may even serve as evidence of a drug’s efficacy, which may help the company overcome lesser rejections and speed up the clinical trial process.

This process has been patented and is in the process of getting launched very soon in the market.

Hello friends,

I  would like to ask you all which are the courses we can opt for after doing Bsc in microbiology?
I am bsc in microbiology and i have also done PGDMLT and PGDBA in finance.

I would like to do something which is not monotonous and which earns high rewards! 

which fields has brighter future in coming years?
I seriously dont want to do MSC in microbiology